
COPYRIGHTED 1915 BY J. N. MAYO 



^%0 



JUL (7 I9I5 



CI.A412203 



T^D/ 



INTRODUCTION 



This book contains private recipes and formulas not 
known to the average workman. It contains some of the 
best secrets known to mechanical skill. The ambitious 
workman is always in search of knowledge — in search of 
new ideas. Any person wishing to thoroughly master any 
art must be to a certain extent capable of self instruction. 
The repair man is often called on to do all kinds of odd 
jobs, especially in country towns. It would be next to im- 
possible for the workman to remember all the various 
Ihings he has read or heard about. The author believes 
that such persons will welcome this volume, and that it 
will prove valuable for all mechanics. I have put in twenty- 
five years of my life doing such work as this book contains. 

There is one great mistake that many mechanics make, 
by commencing a job of work that they don't understand. 
They will commence work on a difficult job and try to 

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figure out how they will accomplish it at the same time 
they are doing the work. The proper thing for a mechanic 
to do when he is called to do a job of work that he does 
not thoroughly understand, is to take a seat and sit still 
for 5 or 10 minutes and study out the best way to do the 
job before he commences. Any mechanic that practices 
this rule will find the way to success about 9 times out of 
10. 






TEMPERING SPRINGS. 

The first thing I will call your attention to, is the art of 
making springs. Springs have been used for hundreds of 
years. This book applies to light springs only. The 
secret of making springs is the tempering part. To temper 
springs proceed as follows : 

Use an earthen crock or pan that will hold about a gallon ; 




Proper Way to Hold Spring When Tempering. 

fill it about full of hog lard. The best lard for this pur- 
pose is rendered from meat rinds, as the pelts of animals 
have a tendency to caseharden steel. Lard two or three 
years old is much better for this purpose than fresh lard, 
the older the lard the better. The proper way to temper a 
spring is to hold it with a small wire while tempering. This 

—5— 



may be done by bending the end of the wire around the 
end of the spring a couple of times. 

Don't try to temper a spring by holding it with black- 
smith tongs, as it will break near where the tongs clamp 
the springs. I recommend blacksmith forge for tempering 
springs. Use good blacksmith coal or coke. First stir the 
fire enough to dissolve the lumps of coal before putting the 
spring in the fire; next place the spring in the fire; have 
the wire attached to one end of spring; hold the wire with 
one hand and keep the spring continually moving about in 
the fire, so the spring will have a uniform heat. The spring 
must have the same heat all over or it will break. Use a 
slow draft. Some springs are thicker some places than 
others, a spring of this kind you should be sure to have 
the thick part as hot as other parts. When the spring is 
heated to a red heat, place it in the lard; have the lard 
handy to the fire, so that it can be placed in the lard the 
instant it is taken from the fire. When the spring is cool, 
lift it from the lard, there is always some grease sticking 
to the spring; put the spring back in the fire. Don't use 
any draft, let the fire be quiet. Move the spring about till 
it begins to blaze ; lift from the fire, hold in the air till the 
grease is burnt off, lay the spring on the forge to cool; 
don't touch it till it is perfectly cool. 

Coil spring should be tempered same way as a flat spring. 
Any kind of spring steel can be used, saw blades, umbrella 

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The Way to Make Coil Spring. 



—7— 



wire. Knitting needles are good to make coil springs. They 
can be purchased from any dry goods store ; they are made 
in different sizes. Steel wire can be purchased from any 
hardware dealer in any sizes. Fine springs can be made 
from guitar strings, violin or mandolin strings. This is an 
easy way to get the material, as the strings are in different 
sizes ; as a rule they do not require tempering. 

To make a coil spring use iron bolt or piece of iron rod 
the size the spring is wanted ; place the wire in the vice as 
shown in cut; wind it around the bolt till it is the desired 
length. If the spring is to be made out of large wire that 
is already tempered, the wire should be heated to make the 
wire pliable and easily bent. After the spring has been 
wound, remove from the bolt, place in the fire, turn the 
spring over continually in the fire while heating; when it 
is to a cherry red, plunge it in the grease ; leave in the grease 
till cool, lift out and burn the grease same as the flat spring 
mentioned on the other page. 



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Bending Spring Steel, 



Flat springs can be made of tempered steel, if they do not 
have to be bent to a sharp angle. To make a pistol spring 
without drawing the temper or reheating may be done in 
this way: Find a piece of tempered spring steel the size 
the spring has to be ; lay the spring across the vise, open 
the vise enough to make a little space under the spring, 
use a very light hammer that has a flat end ; tap the spring 
with the hammer above the open place in the vise. This 
will cause the spring to bend, continue striking the spring 
till it is to the right angle. Any kind of tempered spring 
steel can be bent to almost any angle in this way. 

It is always better to use steel the proper thickness than 
it is to forge down, as the steel is often cracked while forg- 
ing. Sometimes the steel has to be forged down to get 
the proper dimensions for the spring. In this case care 
should be used not to heat the steel too hot or hammer it 
when too cold. 

To make springs where there has to be short crook, like 
gun springs, bend the spring together and open with a 
screw driver while hot. By reading these directions closely 
and a little practice, any one can make springs. 



10- 



HOW TO TEMPER RAZOR BLADE. 

Cut off a piece of sheet iron or tin length of razor blade, 
and about one inch wide. This makes a shield to put over 
the edge of razor ; each side of shield should be wide enough 
to reach up to back of the blade. It is a good idea to wrap 
a small piece of wire once around, the blade ; this will keep 
the shield from coming off while heating. Next put the 
blade in the fire and heat to a cherry red ; turn the blade 
over in the fire a time or tw v o while heating. Drop in the 
water, take the shield from the blade, and test with a file. 
If not hard enough, repeat in the safe way. Some blades 
require more degrees of heat than others, as there is 
difference in the Steel. 

When heating any kind of thin edge tool to temper, it 
should be remembered to turn the tool over different times 
while heating, as that will prevent the tool from bending 
when dropped in water. 



—11— 



HOW TO TEMPER CHOPPING AX. 

The important thing about tempering ax is to keep the 
steel from burning; this may be done by using slow draft. 
Use a blacksmith forge, place the ax in the fire, turn on the 
draft a few minutes, stop the draft one minute. Continue 
stopping draft and turning on till the ax is heated red hot 
up to about where the handle fastens in. Before lifting the 
ax from the fire, let it lay about one minute after the draft 
is shut off; next lift from the fire, place the ax in water, 
with the edge straight down to a depth of about three 
inches in the water; lift from the water, notice the blue 
rays ; when it gets to a straw color at the edge, drop back 
in water, let lay till cool. 



12 



TO SHARPEN WORN THREAD DIES. 

Worn thread dies may be sharpened by drawing the 
temper, file the trenches little larger than they originally 
were, this will square the corners of the trenches. The cor- 
ners of the die are the parts that do most of the cutting. 
The thread pins, or thread dies, can be sharpened in this 
way : Dies may be tempered by heating to a cherry red, 
put cyanide on, drop in cold water. The cyanide will make 
the surface of the steel much harder that the center parts, 
this will prevent the die from breaking. 



13-- 



HOW TO SHARPEN SHEARS OR SCISSORS. 

There are tricks in all trades, sharpening shears same as 
everything else. In scissors, in good cutting order, the 
blades are bent. If you look at any new shears, you notice 
the blades are bent; they should be bent, otherwise they 
will not cut. Steel shears sometimes get the blades 
straight by cutting heavy cloth. Before sharpening shears, 
you should see that the blades are bent enough so that they 
seem to want to cross each other a little when closing. Al- 
ways have the rivet loose enough so the blades will work 
freely. The best way to get the blades bent is to lay the 
oval side of the blade on a level piece of iron, hammer the 
flat side with a light hammer, tap the blade light blows 
with the hammer till it is bent to the right shape. It is 
not necessary to take the shears apart to put them in good 
cutting order. One side of the blade must be perfectly 
level ; if the shears are wore round along the edge, grind 
them down till the rounding part is all off. Cast shears 
cannot be bent or straightened, as they will break if struck 
with hammer. All that can be done to cast shears is to 
grind them till the rounding edge is off. 



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HOW TO TEMPER POCKET KNIFE BLADE. 

Blade can be tempered by heating it on a piece of steel ; 
use a piece of steel about two inches wide, eight inches long, 
quarter inch thick ; lay the blade on the steel, heat the steel 
till the blade is to about a white heat, let the blade slide 
from the steel into cold water. When heating the blade it 
should be turned over on the steel several times. This is 
to keep the blade from bending when dropped in water. 

Use light tongs to turn the blade over when heating, 
clamp the end of the blade that has the hole when turning 
it over. 

HOW TO TEMPER A COLD CHISEL. 

Use slow draft, heat the chisel till it is r^d hot 2 inches 
from the edge, stick the chisel in cold w T ater to the depth 
of one inch, lift from the water. You will notice a blue 
appearance on the chisel where it came in contact with the 
water; hold the chisel out of the water till you notice a 
straw color about the edge of chisel; when this appears, 
drop in the water. Great many mistakes are made by not 
heating the chisel back far enough from the edge. Care 
should be used while heating the chisel not to burn the 
steel. It is better to move the chisel about in the fire while 
heating, this will prevent the steel from burning. 

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HOW TO CASEHARDEN. 

Iron machines of all kinds have some parts casehardened. 
I put before the public the quickest way known to do case- 
hardening. Some gun factories use bone dust to case- 
harden small fire arms, such as guns and pistols. This is 
done by putting the parts in an oven and covering with 
bone dust and baking four hours. Pieces of leather put 
around the parts and baked will have about the same effect 
as bone dust. The method I refer to is done by heating 
the iron to about a welding heat, have potassium cyanide 
handy, place the iron in the cyanide, lift out quickly as 
possible, plunge in cold water: If the iron is not hard 
enough repeat in the same way. Another way is to heat 
the iron to about a welding heat, lift from the fire, put 
cyanide on, put back in the fire and heat to about a weld- 
ing heat, drop in cold water. 



-16- 



A QUICK WAY TO MAKE THREAD CUTTING 

DIES. 

Use a nut that already has the threads, caseharden the 
nut, screw it on the article that is to be threaded, the 
threads will be the same as in the nut. Threads may be cut 
in a nut by casehardening a bolt. Before casehardening 
nut or bolt, it is better to file about three little trenches in 
the nut. Prepare the bolt the same w r ay, file trenches. 
This will cause the tools to cut smoother and better. The 
trenches should be filed about like blacksmith dies. This 
method will be valuable when cutting odd sized threads 
or cutting left-hand threads, as it requires only a few min- 
utes to make this kind of tool. 



—1-7- 



BRAZING. 

Brazing is a part of work that every mechanic should be 
able to do. There are many good mechanics that do not 
understand the art of brazing. It might be supposed by 
some people that it would require years of experience to 
master this art. By the aid of this book and a little prac- 
tice any one can do all kinds of brazing. The word braz- 
ing means in a mechanical way to put two parts of metal 
together. With brass there are different w T ays to do this 
class of work. The method I most refer to is done with a 
blacksmith forge. Use good coal, such as blacksmiths 
use. Before putting the parts in the fire that are to be 
brazed, have the coal well charred. The parts that are to 
be brazed should be attached together with rivets, or the 
ends filed to a wedge shape and lapped over about a half 
inch and wire wound around the parts to hold them together 
while brazing. After the brazing is done and the work is 
cool, file the wire from the parts. Another way to. fasten 
parts together while brazing, such as gun hammer or simi- 
lar things, can be done by drilling a hole in each end of 
broken parts, put a steel pin in the parts, drive them to- 
gether so they will fit nicely together before brazing. Be- 
fore brazing any kind of metal, the parts should be filed to 
a bright finish, this is to remove the rust and other things 
that might be sticking to the metal, put the parts that are 

—18— 



to be brazed in the fire, heat to a cherry red, put on borax. 
When the borax is melted, put the brass on, heat till the 
brass is melted, 'lift from the fire, let the work lay on the 
forge till cool. The rough scales can then be removed 
with a file. 




One Way to Attach Work When Brazing. 

To put in a new cog where one has been broken out, file 
a slot in the place where the one was broken out, fit in a 
piece of steel the size the cog should be, after it is brazed 
file down to match the other cogs. If the wheel is cast it 
requires more attention, as cast is much harder to braze 
than steel or iron. To braze any kind of cast, cyanide of 
postassium should be used; make a mixture of one part 
cyanide, one part borax, equal parts. 

To braze cast, the fire must be watched carefully, or the 
cast will burn. To braze cast, heat same as iron or steel ; 
when the cast is red hot, put on the cyanide and borax, 



—19— 



next put the brass on, heat till the brass begins to melt, put 
on little more cyanide and borax; move the work about in 
the fire. While brazing large parts of work, you will not- 
ice there is a hollow space burnt out under the parts while 
heating ; this should be watched. When this happens fresh 
fire should be raked under the parts. This does not happen 
while brazing light work, as the draft is not kept on long 
enough to burn out a hollow space. 

To braze large tubing it is necessary to use a gasoline 
brazer or acetylene welding machine. All kinds of solid 
iron, steel or cast can be easily brazed with a blacksmith 
forge up to the size of one inch and a quarter in diame- 
ter. When brazing heavy parts the draft should be turned 
on about forty seconds, stop twenty seconds, repeat in this 
way till the brass is melted. This idea is to keep the brass 
from burning. If a large piece of iron was heated hot 
enough to melt the brass without stopping the draft, the 
brass would be burnt to nothing. One reason in using a 
slow draft is to get the parts to a unifom heat. 

When brazing cast it is necessary to move the work 
about in the fire a time or two while heating; same thing 
to weld cast steel, it is always better to move the parts in 
fire when heating, as this keeps the steel from burning. 

Different kinds of brass can be used for brazing purposes. 
Smelters' brass can be bought from any hardware dealer. 
Brass clock wheels make good material for brazing. 

—20— 



Copper can be used to braze with, but is not as good as 
brass, as copper is much softer metal. One thing should 
always be remembered, before brazing anything, the parts 
should be well cleaned. 

One way to prepare flat parts of iron to braze is done by 
cutting slots in each part that is to be brazed. This is 
shown is cut. Slots can be cut with hacksaw or file and the 
broken parts fitted together with flat pieces of steel before 
brazing. 





How Flat Iron Is Fastened Together to Braze. 

HARD SOLDERING. 

Hard soldering is a class of work similar to brazing, 
only difference, silver is used in place of brass. The first 
thing I will call your attention to is soldering band saws. 
The broken ends should be filed to a wedge shape ; the ends 
should be lapped over about half inch; file the ends so they 
will fit properly. Care should be taken not to get the 
broken place thicker than other parts of the saw; next 
thing put thin piece of silver between the ends that are to 
be soldered ; heat a pair of blacksmith tongs to a white 
heat, sprinkle borax on the parts that are to be soldered. 

—21— 



It might be necessary to put a little borax between the ends. 
Clamp the tongs on the parts that are to be soldered, 
Leave the tongs clamped to the saw till cool, the job is then 
completed. Silver solder may be purchased from any 
jeweler, but the best and quickest way to get material is 
to hammer a silver dime to about the thickness of writing 
paper* One dime will do many light jobs of soldering* 
Silver watch cases may be used for material ; a genuine 
silver case is stamped inside of case, "Coin silver/' Don't 
try to use any other kind. The kind of tongs that should 
be used to Solder Saws should have heavy jaws, about one 
inch thick, as they will hold heat longer than light tongs. 
It does not require but a small part of a dime to solder band 
saw. 

Any kind of broken brass or copper can be put together 
with silver solder and made as solid as before broken. To 
do this the broken parts do not have to be lapped over as 
when soldering band Saws. To do this kind of work, 
asbestos Soldering block should be used. To make a solder- 
ing block, use asbestos paper, which can be purchased from 
any hardware dealer at a very little cost. Only tools 
needed are a pair of shears ; cut the paper in about four 
inch squares, cut enough blocks to make about one inch 
thick, put the blocks together by driving little brads or 
small' nails through the paper; this will hold the block to- 
gether. Lay the broken article on the block, put the broken 

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Hard Soldering Block, 



ends together, place them so they will join together nicely; 
next stick little pins in the block; place them against the 
article that is to be soldered. This will hold the parts to- 
gether while soldering. Next use a blow torch, turn the 
blaze on the broken parts till it is hot enough to melt borax, 
sprinkle borax on, then have a thin piece of silver made 
from a dime, lay the silver on the broken place, turn on the 
torch till the silver is melted ; let lay till cool. The article 
will be found solid as before broken. 

It is not necessary to use the soldering block only to do 
light work, such as broken parts of music instruments and 
other similar things. 

To put a new cog in a brass cogwheel, file a slot where 
the one has been broken out. The new cog can be made of 
brass or steel, it does not make any difference. The cog 

—23— 



must fit in the slot tight enough to hold it while soldering. 
Hold the blow torch to the cog till it is hot enough to melt 
borax ; put the borax on ; next lay on a piece of silver, hold 
the torch to the silver till melted. The cog then can be 
filed to match the others. Any parts of German silver, 
steel, copper, iron or brass can be soldered with silver. 

Any kind of brass tubing used about automobiles can be 
put together with silver and made perfectly solid. The 
important thing is to have the broken parts fitted nicely 
together before soldering. To solder hollow tubing, one 
inch or more in diameter, it is necessary to make three or 
more heats where the tube is jointed together. Solder one 
place, turn the tube about one-third round, solder again, and 
so on till the solder is melted all around the joint. A 
double jet torch should be used to do hard soldering, as 
the double jet makes much stronger heat than a single 
jet. 

Soldering tin and hard soldering are different classes 
of work. Most repair men are familiar with tin soldering. 
It is not necessary for me to say much on this subject. The 
most important thing about tin soldering is mixing the acid. 
Muriatic acid should be put in a glass vessel. Thin parts 
of zinc should be put in the acid, this will cause the acid 
to boil, when the acid is about to quit boiling, remove the 
parts of zinc from the acid, don't wait till the acid has en- 
tirely quit boiling, as it will be too weak. 

—24— 



To solder parts of iron together, it is necessary to tin 
the parts ; this may be done by first heating soldering iron, 
put acid on the parts that are to be soldered, place a piece 
of tinners' solder on, turn the torch on the solder, move 
the soldering iron back and forth till it forms a thin coat 
of solder ; each part to be soldered should be treated in the 
same way. When this is done, put the two parts together, 
turn the torch on the parts till the solder is melted. Parts 
to be soldered should be perfectly clean and free from grease 
and dirt. Another way is to put the two parts together that 
are to be soldered, put acid on, lay on a piece of solder, hold 
the torch to the parts till melted. This will unite the two 
parts together. 

To solder tin the soldering iron should be heated and 
moved about on sal ammoniac, this is to clean the soldering 
iron ; next move it about on the solder till the soldering iron 
is tinned. 



—25— 



HOW TO MAKE HACK SAW BLADES WITHOUT 

ANY EXPENSE. 

Broken talking machine springs can be gotten from most 
any music dealer, free of charge. Cut off piece of spring 
long as desired, next use two blocks of wood one inch thick, 
two inches wide, about eight inches long. 

Put the blocks in the vise, place the spring between the 
blocks. This way the spring will be held solid while 
cutting the teeth. Use very light cold chisel to cut the 
teeth, also light hammer, hold the chisel on the spring; 
each blow with the hammer will make one notch in the 
spring; each notch is one tooth. After the blade has been 
hacked with the chisel, remove from the vise, lay the end 
of the blade on a nut that has about three-sixteenth inch 
hole, drive a small punch through the blade. The blade is 
ready for service. With a little practice anyone can make 
a blade in ten minutes; the blade can be resharpened by 
filing the old teeth down till the blade is level along the 
edge ; hack the blade with the chisel as before. One spring 
will make enough blades to last several years. These 
blades will not break by sawing through hollow tubing, 
such such as gas pipe. The important thing about making 
the blades is to make the teeth close together. Anyone 
will be surprised to see how these blades will cut and how 
simple it is to make one. 

—26— 




How to Make Hack Saw Blade. 



—27— 



HOW TO RESHARPEN OLD FILES. 

Sprinkle cyanide potassium on a flat piece of iron, heat 
the file red hot, move the file about in the cyanide till it 
has a coating, place the file back in the fire, heat to a white 
heat, drop the file in cold water. The file should be moved 
about in the fire while heating so as to make a uniform heat. 

Another way is to heat the file to a white heat, turn it 
over once in the cyanide, drop in the water; a file treated 
this way will cut about like new. 



—28— 



HOW TO SHARPEN A HAND SAW. 

Fasten the saw in a vise. Use a piece of wood about 
one inch thick, abut two inches wide, eight inches long. 
Hold the piece of wood against the side of saw, hold a flat 
file on top of saw, and top of wood, move both at the same 
time back and forth, this will Cut the teeth level. The 
piece of wood that the file rests on should be perfectly level, 
otherwise the saw will not cut straight through a board. 
After the teeth are leveled, next thing is to set the saw. 
The saw should not have too much set, as it will cause the 
saw to cut slow. After the saw is set, next is to sharpen. 
The secret about sharpening a saw is the filing part. 
Always file the teeth so the points will lean toward the 
little end of the saw. If the teeth should lean toward the 
handle of the saw, it would not cut fast, the teeth would 
rather slip over the wood than cut. Always slant the 
teeth so they will dig in the wood when pushing the saw. 



-29— 



HOW TO ENGRAVE NAME ON STEEL. 

Coat the article over with a thin layer of wax. Draw the 
name in the wax. , Make a mixture of six parts of water, 
one part of sulphuric acid, in a few hours remove and wash 
with clean water. 

HOW TO BROWN STEEL. 

Make a mixture of aqua fortis and sweet spirits of niter, 
each half ounce, sulphate copper two ounces, water 30 
ounces, tincture of iron one ounce ; mix and apply with a 
brush. 



—30— 



HOW TO CLEAN JEWELRY. 

Jewelry, brass or copper can be cleaned and made bright 
by dipping in a solution made of water and cyanide. Place 
a lump of cyanide about the size of a walnut in a glass 
vessel that contains about a pint or a little more of water. 
After cleaning the articles, rinse in clean water and dry in 
sawdust. This is done by shaking the article in the saw- 
dust. 

HOW TO PREVENT IRON FROM RUSTING. 

Rub the article with a mixture of lime and oil. Iron 
articles can be kept from rusting by coating them with a 
varnish made by dissolving one part white wax in 15 parts 
of benzine. Apply with a brush; the thin layer of wax 
forms a light covering for the bright tools. 



31— 



